I worked music retail in the 1990s, DJ'ed a radio show in college, signed up with different aliases to 12-for-1 music clubs in the 1980s and inherited a record collection in the 1970s which I appreciated years later. Needless to say, I've been very lucky to be exposed to different kinds of music through my family, friends and occupation.
I never had the privilege of being a really big David Bowie fan but I understood his impact. When I think of him, I think of this song. It was released at a time when I started watching music videos. We didn't have cable so I never watched MTV in its infancy. V66 in Boston served up a pretty good selection of music videos and this was in heavy rotation.
I didn't like Let's Dance at first but now cannot imagine a world without it. There are a ton of great songs by Bowie but I love this track. Bands from the 70s changed their sound in the 80s to appeal (see Jefferson Airplane/Starship's "We Built This City," Steve Miller Band's "Abracadabra," Santana's "Say It Again" to name a few) but very few evolved. He was one of select artists to do so and this was one of those songs that fused pop art of that time with Bowie's style and signature funk. Yes, it was an 80s song but make no mistake it is trademark Bowie and it was a hit.(Let's Dance was Bowie's last #1 US single and his 2nd after Fame in 1975.)
It's too bad that I never saw him perform live (and for that matter Peter Gabriel with Genesis in its Lamb Lies Down on Broadway days) and regardless of his passing, I planned to listen to his new album, reuniting me with the acquaintance that I respected but didn't know well in high school.
Thanks to one of the very few artists that changed his name, so that he would not to be confused with the other (another being Michael Keaton). He was definitely David Bowie and not David Jones and somewhere Stevie Ray Vaughn is tuning up his axe for his solo at the end. Let's Dance, shall we?
